Americans often tend to
think of the British as being “classier” – more polished, more erudite, more
cultured -- than their fellow Americans. This is due in no small part to popular
culture. In the past, American television tended to showcase portrayals of the
British in precisely this way, due to the legacy of film adaptations of British
literary works on TV programs like Masterpiece Theater. The program
Monty Python’s Flying Circus gave many Americans their first introduction to
Brits as zany and off-beat. But now, basic cable network BBC America is offering
U.S. citizens proof that British programming can be every bit as crude and
depraved as anything offered by FX or Spike – as witnessed by its “comedy”
series TheInbetweeners (Wednesdays, 9:00 p.m. ET), the
Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

Focusing on a group of
foul-mouthed, pathetic 17-year-olds and their alcoholic binges, fights, mutual
putdowns and attempts at sex, The Inbetweeners is essentially Skins without the pretentions to drama. One
recent episode opened with lead character Will, who is marginally less of a
moron than his three wastrel friends, opining, “The local park. Where people
come to play football, hang out with their friends, and most importantly, let
their dogs s***.” As the four play frisbee, one spots a girl with whom he is
infatuated. “Look at that jugg-o-saurus!” he exclaims, as his friend replies,
“S***!” They then seek to impress the girl by throwing their frisbee into the
face of a woman in a wheelchair (or a “spastic,” as this sensitive foursome
describes her).

The rest of the episode is
all downhill from there, as Will and his fellow idiots exchange further insults
(“I’m off home.” “To wank off over your mum’s bras?...Can I have a go?”), then
decide to skip school the next day and illegally buy liquor, as they argue over
whether one’s father is a “bender” (gay). “Your mum left him because he loves
(bleeped ‘c***’),” one states. Back comes the defense: “He’s got hundreds of
porn mags, all of them straight! Well, some lesbian.” “I bet it’s 90% (bleeped
‘c***’),” one friend mumbles.

The show follows the
filth-filled foursome as they flounder about, describing “wanking” over each
others’ mothers, losing their virginity, getting girls to “strum” themselves,
and so forth. When the allegedly gay father returns home to find the quartet
drunk, Will subjects him to a torrent of abuse:
“You’d like my lip, wouldn’t you – right ‘round your bell end! If Mr. Chip here
doesn’t get there first. What is he here to build – a closet you can hide in?”

In the rest of the episode,
one of the boys tries to impress the girl with whom he is infatuated by asking
her to masturbate in front of him, then spraying her little brother with the
vomit that spews out of his mouth. The episode ends with two of the boys
accusing the allegedly gay father of sexually molesting them.

Unsurprisingly, this
stomach-churning concoction of vomit, crude sex humor and near-constant
profanity has drawn rave reviews from “critics.” The Inbetweeners has
been nominated for a BAFTA, the British equivalent of the Emmys; one British
newspaper writer claims the show “captures
the feel of adolescence perfectly;” and BBC America touts the show with one
column’s assessment, “a hilarious high-school coming-of-age comedy.”

U.S. parents may feel
differently, particularly when Midwestern children stumble on the program at 8
p.m. And, of course, many cable and satellite subscribers have the privilege of
subsidizing the program, as BBC America is on the basic tier of most systems.
Unfortunately, this network seems intent on shoving the depraved programming
apparently so popular among British teens onto Americans as well.

For forcing Americans to pay
for crudity and foul language, BBC America’s The Inbetweeners is the Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

Parents Television Council,
www.parentstv.org, PTC,
Clean Up TV Now, Because our children are watching, The
nation's most influential advocacy organization, Protecting
children against sex, violence and profanity in
entertainment, Parents Television Council Seal of Approval,
and Family Guide to Prime Time Television
are trademarks of the Parents Television Council.